Federal Court has overturned federal vote for the time being
Published: Tuesday, Aug 6th 2024, 11:50
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In Switzerland, the highest court has overturned the result of a federal referendum for the first time in the country's history since 1848. In 2019, the Federal Supreme Court declared the vote on the CVP popular initiative against a marriage penalty invalid because the Federal Council had provided incorrect information in advance.
In its ruling on an appeal by the CVP, the Federal Supreme Court stated that the Federal Council had provided voters with misinformation during the 2016 referendum campaign. This violated the freedom to vote, the Lausanne judges stated during the public consultation in 2019.
The Federal Supreme Court has already heard another appeal against the referendum. Following the narrow yes vote on the 2008 Corporate Tax Reform II, the SP demanded that the vote be annulled, arguing that the Federal Council had underestimated the tax losses for the Confederation. The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, arguing legal certainty - the reform was already in force.
In the case of the marriage penalty, the Federal Council only informed the public more than two years after the vote that the marriage penalty would not affect 80,000 two-earner couples as published in the dispatch and in the voting documents, but around 454,000.
The majority of the judges had clear words to say about the figures provided by the Federal Council at the time. It was "downright shocking" that the figure had never been corrected or relativized, said one of the federal judges.
The popular initiative of the then CVP was rejected in February 2016 with 1,664,224 no votes against 1,609,152 yes votes, i.e. with 50.8 percent. A majority of the cantons voted in favor of the initiative. The Federal Supreme Court did not rule out the possibility that correct information would have led to a different outcome.
At the time, the Federal Supreme Court demanded that the vote be repeated. However, the CVP (now the Center Party) announced that it would not put the initiative to the vote again and would instead launch a new initiative.
©Keystone/SDA
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